the cross, for pardon and peace; shedding abroad in his heart the spirit of divine love; and causing him to rejoice in the blessed assurance of a crown of glory that fadeth not away!

LECTURE VII.

PROPHECY.

HAVING shown the genuineness of the miracles recorded in the New Testament, in attestation of the divine mission of the Saviour and his apostles; we are now to take up the subject of prophecy. But, while proceeding to this additional source of evidence, it is important to be observed, that we do so, not because we consider the reasoning in proof of christianity, as a divine revelation, to which you have already listened, in any sense incomplete. Had our course of lectures been terminated with the last, the argument would have been brought to an incontrovertible issue. Having made out the great point, that genuine miracles were wrought by the Saviour and his apostles, in attestation of the divine authority of what they did and taught; we have established, by necessary consequence, the great truth that Jesus Christ was a teacher come from God, and that the New Testament, as an authentic publication of the religion taught by him, is to be received as containing a divine revelation of truth and duty. One line of evidence, therefore-cne road leading to the scriptures, as the great central fountain of divine truth-we have travelled over; and it has set us down beside the water of life. Now, if this were the only road, it would be amply sufficient. The loftiest intellect need not be ashamed; the

But God

weakest need not fear, to walk therein.* has not only furnished us with the plainest, but with the most various and abundant evidence. And, since the object of these lectures is not only to prove the divine authority of the Gospel, but also to give you an idea of the diversified character of the many ways by which the proof may be established; we propose now to return from the position we have reached by the argument of our last lecture, and endeavour to arrive at it again by a route entirely different. We take up the prophecies, recorded in the Scriptures, and shall endeavour to produce from them satisfactory and impressive evidence that in the Bible we have divine inspiration; and in Jesus Christ, a teacher sent of God.

What is a prophecy, according to the sense of Scripture, and as we are now about to consider it? It is a declaration of future events, such as no human wisdom or forecast is sufficient to make; depending on a knowledge of the innumerable contingencies of human affairs, which belongs exclusively to the omniscience of God; so that, from its very nature, prophecy must be divine revelation. "The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

A prophecy, considered in itself, separately from its fulfilment, is no evidence of revelation, because it is not perfected. But as soon as fulfilled, it is

A celebrated infidel once acknowledged that even atheism would be refuted by the proof of a single miracle of the Gospel. Spinoza declared that he would have broken his atheistic system to pieces, and embraced without repugnance the ordinary faith of Christians, could he have been persuaded of the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead! Was it not a foresight of the arguments that would necessarily result from the proof of this miracle, that prevented him from being persuaded of its truth?-See Watson's Apology for Christianity, p. 93.

complete. The hand of God in it, is then attested. The evidence that the person by whom it was uttered was under the influence of the Spirit of divine omniscience, is finished. Then prophecy takes the place of miracle, and becomes at once the highest ard most unquestionable proof, not only that the individual who declared it was the agent of communicating, in that particular, a divine revelation; but also, that a divine sanction is impressed upon that whole system of religion with which his prophecies may be connected.* "Future contingencies, such, for example, as those which relate to the rise and fall of nations and states not yet in existence, or to the minute concerns of individuals not yet born, are secrets which it is evident no man or angel can penetrate, their causes being indeterminate, their relations with other things fluctuating and unknown. It follows, therefore, that the prediction of such contingent events cannot otherwise than proceed from God; and, farther, since God cannot, without a violation of His perfect holiness and rectitude, visibly aid delusion and wickedness, the inference is equally cogent and necessary, that the accomplishment of predictions delivered by those who profess divine authority amounts to a full proof that they really possess the authority they assume. Other

arguments may be evaded; other evidence may not convince. Strange effects (though not miraculous ones) may be produced by other than divine power."+ But this can only be evaded by refusing to behold it, and only counterfeited by him who is ingenious enough to borrow omniscience in aid of imposture. "To declare a thing shall come to be, long before it is in being (says Justin Martyr ;) and, then to bring

"All prophecies (says Hume) are real miracles, and as such only, can be admitted as proofs of any revelation."Phil. Essays.

+ Gregory's Letters.

about the accomplishment of that very thing, according to the same declaration; this, or nothing, is the work of God."

There are considerations connected with this particular source of evidence, which render it specially interesting and valuable.

Prophecy furnishes an argument, the force of which is continually growing. The argument began, when first a single prophecy was fulfilled. It increased more and more as predictions and fulfilments multiplied. In the age of the apostles, it was a powerful as well as favourite weapon in proof of the Gospel. But during that period many new predictions were published, and many ancient ones remained to be accomplished. The argument, consequently, was not yet at its height. It has been growing ever since, as one century after another has rolled out an additional fulfilment, or completed and enlarged those already advanced. We, in the present age, enjoy an expanse, and variety, and completeness of prophetic evidence, far exceeding those which the chart of history presented to St. Paul. There is to us, a voice from the silent solitudes where Babylon and Tyre once stood in pride, and reigned in power; from the modern history of the prostrate Egypt; from the wonderful annals and present condition of the Jewish race; from the desolate state of the Holy Land and adjoining countries; from the rise and present aspect of the mystic Babylon-which the primitive christians were not privileged to hear. The force of this argument is yet to grow continually. A few years hence, in all probability, will exhibit it invested with a brightness and glory, compared with which all present evidence will seem but as morning twilight. The end of the world will be its full maturity. Prophecy having begun with the history of sin, extends to the completion of its tragedy; and not till the blazing

of the great conflagration, when "the earth and all that is therein shall be burned up," will its every prediction be fulfilled; or the fulness of glory with which it was designed to show the witness of God in the Gospel of his Son, be made to appear.

Now, it is this continual growing of prophetic evidence that makes it so peculiarly valuable. The argument derived from miracles, though it could never have been more conclusive than it is to us, was certainly more impressive to those who saw the miracles, or who lived in the age in which they were wrought. The evidence of the senses, while it could not render that argument more perfect to us, would certainly make it much more influential. And it is very difficult for most persons to distinguish between the conclusiveness and the impressiveness of evidence. Because the lapse of centuries, by removing the christian miracles far from us, has diminished the sensible effect they would otherwise have had upon our minds, it is very generally supposed that the same cause has enfeebled the evidence on which their genuineness is maintained. This idea, though entirely unfounded, is too natural, to those who do not think deeply, to be easily removed. But with regard to the evidence arising from prophecy, it cannot exist. Predictions, now in progress of fulfilment, are miracles which centuries can only render more certain and impressive. If there was a peculiar privilege conferred on those who saw, in the miracles of Christ, manifest to sense, the wonderful works of God's omnipotence; there is also a similar privilege conferred on us, who, in consequence of the ever increasing fulfilment of prophecy, may see in the Scriptures, more brilliantly illuminated than ever, the hand-writing of God's omniscience.

There is another peculiarity in much of the evidence from prophecy, which renders it peculiarly valuable. It is evidence before our eyes, addressed